


burn through me

by orphan_account



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, High School AU, Multi, Unrequited Love, also siblings enjolras and cosette, temporarily anyway, the merging of friendship groups yay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 06:57:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2058306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting expelled from their prestigious private school due to a protest-gone-wrong, Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac are forced to try their hand at a public education. Grantaire and his friends have never liked rich kids, but will they change their minds when they meet the new students?</p>
            </blockquote>





	burn through me

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever time writing for les mis, as well as my first time posting something where people can see it, so sorry for any errors and such
> 
> hopefully i will come up with a better summary than the one i have now bc wow

Grantaire remembers how exciting it used to be to hear the words “new kid”. In Elementary school, it meant that you could have a new friend. In middle school, it meant a potential crush. Now, in his senior year of high school, it meant that he really didn't give a damn. So, at around 12:30 pm during a usual Wednesday lunch period, it took him all of his strength not to roll his eyes when Marius Pontmercy was running his mouth about the four new transfer students. He had to admit, honestly, that while one new kid every now and then was standard procedure at his school, four at a time- all coming from the same school, too- was relatively strange. Maybe he would've cared more if the school they were coming from wasn't New Hope Academy for Snotty Rich Brats, the only private school in the area. Every Friday night swarms of New Hope students would come into the movie theater he worked in, wearing their stupid khakis and blazers, and would give him 'i'm better than you' looks as they purchased tickets to a stupid movie to bring their equally stupid dates to. It was all rather sickening, and he'd prefer it if the ungrateful snobs would stay as far away from him as possible, especially during nonworking hours. 

“Two siblings, and their two friends.” He zoned back into the conversation to hear Marius begin to describe the new students, “I've heard that they're all strangely gorgeous. People have been saying that they were kicked out for starting some sort of violent riot.” Next to him, Éponine scoffed.

“It was hardly a violent riot, Marius. Get your facts straight.”

“How would you know, anyway? I thought you said you couldn't care less about the 'brats from New Hope'.” She glared at him.

“It's not that I care, necessarily, it's just that I know one of the people transferring. Her name's Cosette. My mom knew her mom before she passed away. She even stayed with us for a while, before she got adopted. Her brother is the one who got kicked out, but she decided to leave the school as well. I don't know about him or his friends, but she is actually pretty cool. She even Facebook messaged me to tell me that she was going to be coming.”

“Good to hear that we'll only be getting three self-righteous dickheads added to our already overwhelming supply, then.” Grantaire says before he can stop himself, looking up to see that Éponine's glare was now focused on him. 

“Look, R,” she began, “you know I hate snobs as much as the next girl, but Cosette is sweet. I've invited her to sit with us at lunch today. At least try to censor yourself, okay?” 

Before he could make a sarcastic remark, he was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of his friends, who were coming from classes that weren't as close to the lunchroom as the art classroom that he, Éponine, and Marius had just come from. Joly and Bossuet were first, followed by Bahorel and Feuilly, and the came Jehan, all the way from his creative writing class on the other side of the school. It was still somewhat close to the beginning of the school year, as it was only the middle of November, but Grantaire was still unused to the absence of Musichetta, Joly and Bossuet's girlfriend, who had graduated high school last year and was now attending university. 

“So, Ponine,” Grantaire said, after everyone had settled in, “where is the mythical Cosette you spoke so highly of before?

“I have no idea.” she answered, “She showed me her schedule, and she definitely has lunch with us today.” A few minutes passed, and Éponine was about to get up and go look for the girl in question, when she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh good, there she is!” She said, gesturing to the blonde girl who had just walked in. She had a large piece of paper, probably a map, in her hands that she was folding up, and smiled brightly when she saw Éponine. He heard Marius breathe in sharply beside him.

“Uh, are you okay?” He asked as he turned and saw that Marius had turned an alarming shade of white, even for him. 

“No, oh my God.” Marius whispered back to him and Cosette walked towards the table. “That's the girl, the one I saw at the library.” Grantaire raised his eyebrows. Marius saw many cute girls at the library he volunteered at on the weekends, and at the grocery store where he served as a bagger, and Grantaire had heard of all of them. However, for the past few months, he had only seemed to talk about one in particular- a short blonde with super bright eyes- and Cosette seemed to fit the description perfectly. Marius, being the human embodiment of a pathetic puppy, hadn't said anything to her because of his overwhelming nerves. Those same nerves seemed to be present now, as he was as stiff as a board and blushing violently by the time Cosette reached the table.

“Everyone, this is Cosette. Cosette, this is... well, everyone.” Éponine gestured to the group of friends, all of them chucking, before beginning to make proper introductions. Everyone said their hellos, and Grantaire decided that Cosette seemed sweet, giving her the imaginary 'cynic stamp of approval' Éponine always talked about.

“Cosette, didn't you transfer here with your brother? Where is he?” Jehan asked her politely, trying to make conversation.

“Oh, he's here, probably hiding from me. I told him he should sit with me at lunch, but he insists on hiding away with Combeferre and Courfeyrac. Those are his friends who also got expelled.” She explained. “If you're wondering, which I'm assuming you are, the rumors aren't true. My brother didn't actually try to kill his teacher.” 

“I heard he started a violent riot.” Marius chimed in quietly, though he immediately blushed even more than he had been. Cosette looked at him questioningly.

“I really don't know where these rumors are coming from, seriously. He and the two friends I mentioned before, Combeferre and Courfeyrac, organized a protest in front of the school building because they wouldn't let same-sex couples attend homecoming. Everyone got a little too riled up, especially Enjolras- that's my brother, by the way- and there were some... issues with the police. Everyone knew it was the three of them who started the protest, so they were the ones who got punished. I decided to leave with them because I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. I still do.” She seemed a little angry, not at them, but at the situation in general. 

“Oh, we're sorry, Cosette.” Jehan told her, and Grantaire was suddenly more thankful for Jehan's kind nature because he figured no one else knew what to say, “We had no idea what actually happened.”

“Plus, the rumors won't be around for long.” Joly told her, “No one in this school has a large enough attention span to keep talking about it.” Cosette smiled, seemingly appreciative of their reassurance. 

“I'm just worried about Enjolras, honestly. I mean, they all kept to themselves at the old school, though Courfeyrac had a few other friends, but he's different. I wish he would atleast try to meet new people. You should see those three interact. They can basically read each others' minds.” Even Grantaire smiled at that one. Jehan was in the middle of asking her another question when the bell rang. 

“I wish you weren't a junior,” Eponine said to Cosette as everyone stood up and began to leave, “Or maybe we'd have more classes together. Where are you going next?” They walked off together, Cosette pulling her folded map out from her backpack. Grantaire picked up his bag, putting an arm around Marius.

“You, my friend, are pathetic.” Marius' blush, which had started to fade, returned to his face quickly.

“I didn't know what to say!” He defended.

“Then you probably should've kept your mouth shut.” He listened to Marius explain himself further as they walked down the hall, before going their separate ways. Grantaire was fully ready to go to his health class, sit in his favorite back corner seat that he'd been using since freshmen year, and go to sleep. However, when he sat down, he was displeased to see someone had taken the usually empty desk in front of his. 

He didn't know anyone in the class despite the fact that it was pretty large, so he had sat in the back row by himself, perfectly content. There was someone next to him and someone diagonal from him, but the rows were far enough apart that it didn't matter anyway, and the seat in front of him was always empty. Grantaire didn't mind this at all, as it gave him a perfect spot for his backpack. So, he was understandably dismayed when he saw the blonde head taking up his storage space. Nevertheless, he slumped into his seat, groaned, and put his head down on his desk, ready for the class to begin so he could sleep already. He was disrupted by a voice.

“Um, are you okay?” He looked up. The boy- okay, more God than boy- in front of him was staring at him in concern. Grantaire didn't say anything, he just stared at the boy's face. He was literally perfect. His lips were wonderfully pouty, his eyes the deepest shade of blue Grantaire had ever seen, and his jaw was flawlessly sculpted. Grantaire just groaned again and put his head down, hoping the boy would get the message. When he didn't say anything else, Grantaire assumed he did. 

Later, when class ended- thankfully, it was last period so Grantaire could get the hell out of there and go home- he found himself watching the boy walk out of the classroom, an almost obnoxious amount of confidence in his step. He looked like some sort of Greek God ascended from above to bless the world with his presence, and Grantaire was curious to whether he was real or just a figment of his over-tired imagination. Either way, as he walked off to find Éponine so they could walk home together, he found it hard to get the image of the boy's face out of his mind.

“Are you okay? You're never this quiet.” Éponine questioned him while they walked down the street.

“Mm, yeah, m'fine.” He responded, yawning. “I'm just tired. And I may have been visited by a God today.” She raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you decided to stop smoking at school, Grantaire.”

“I'm not high,” he said, though she didn't look quite convinced. “I'm serious. I walked into health class, ready to take my daily nap, and there was this guy sitting in the desk in front of me. I swear, if you saw him, you'd understand. He looks too perfect to be real, Ponine.” 

“Let me guess, you're going to go home and paint him instead of doing your homework?” He smiled at her.

“You know me so well, honestly. It's almost terrifying.”

“Speaking of terrifying, what was wrong with Marius at lunch today? He looked like he was going to throw up or cry or something.”

Grantaire hesitated. Éponine knew about the blonde girl Marius was infatuated with, considering he wouldn't shut up about it, but she had no idea that it was Cosette. Éponine had had a crush on Marius since she had met him in freshman year, and although he knew her feelings weren't quite as strong for him anymore, he didn't know how she'd react.

“I have no idea.” he lied, though he felt a bit guilty. “You know him. It's always something.” She shrugged in agreement as they neared her house.

“You're right. Knowing him, Joly probably convinced him that his lunch meat could give him diseases.” They both laughed. “Try not to stay up too late painting your new Greek God friend, okay? You look exhausted.” He promised her that he wouldn't, looking back and waving as she walked inside her front door and he continued on.

Of course, as either of them could have predicted, he did anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this chapter was really exposition-y, i'm new to this whole writing/posting my writing thing. hopefully it'll get better as i go along. everyone will meet in the next chapter.
> 
> thanks for reading, i'll probably have this updated by the end of the week!


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